Barnacles form a crust y icing on these rocks, the result of fluctuating water temperatures during alternate El Niño and La Niña events that encourage their proliferation. The scalloped hammerheads cruising above are often at the receiving end of these crustaceans’ scouring, and resultant infections show up as white patches on the sharks’ skin. Pelayo and his team have been collecting skin biopsies to investigate what may be an increase in skin disease af ter periods of warmer waters. 29
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